Our next venture was another trio of museums. This one was Derrick’s choice. They were the Ephesus Museum, Collection of Arms and Armor, Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments. The first two casualties were Hak Liang and Alwyn, who were found stoning at the museums’ exit after no time at all.

The second two were Daryl and Chun Yang, who tried their best, but were consumed by boredom after not too long. Next was Marcus, and lastly, Derrick, who was no where to be found, thoroughly enjoying every inch of every exhibit of the museums. Fortunately, we found him, and we were soon on our way. Had we stayed any longer, we might have just passed out from agony.

Next on our itinerary was the Haus der Musik. Here, we looked at exhibits about the Wien Philharmoniker, and spent almost half an hour in a recreated “concert hall” watching videos of the orchestra playing Strauss music at their New Year’s concert. Exhibits here included batons of all its previous conductors, as well as the tuxedo worn by Leonard Bernstein on his last performance. On the upper levels, we saw exhibits about the human ear, and other sounds. Unfortunately, most of the exhibits seemed to be faulty and were not working very well. Also, there was an exhibit about various Romantic composers.

Being in Vienna, how can we not catch the chance to watch an Opera? We made our way to the Opera House and joined the queue for “standing tickets”. After almost an hour’s wait, we bought our standing ticket (€3.50) and proceeded to our seats (hmm… stands?). Here, you reserve your standing space by tying a scarf to the railing! How clever!

Our night ended with ice cream at a place near our hostel.